The Smokehouse
is a design concept for a tobacco shop in downtown Seattle. The design
concept is based on a play on words. Cigarette users often call their
cigarettes “smokes”. A “smoke” house would be
a place one would go to purchase “smokes”. Of course a Smokehouse
is a place for making smoked meat. Smoking of tobacco began with the Native
Americans. Seattle is known for its smoked salmon. The design concept
built on these ideas using imagery based on tobacco history and fish smoking.
At the front of the store are a couple traditional cigar shop Indians.
The colors throughout the space fall in the range of aged tobacco leaves.
The floor is plank style, like a building on a wharf where freshly caught
salmon is brought in to be smoked, or at the floor of the shop next to
an old salmon smoker. The brown color range also represents smoke from
the salmon smoker.

Major Considerations:
The budget was very limited, so the design depends on color and inexpensive
materials for appeal. The merchandise includes fine cigars and bulk tobacco
in humidors, as well as some smoking pipes. The brown color range harmonizes
with the colors of the merchandise. The flooring is a very convincing
plank style vinyl. The casework includes some stock store fixtures, unobtrusively
worked into the design with the custom casework. The overall layout is
designed so it can be operated by one or two people, and to provide security.